Pay your fines or risk getting arrested by officials

Date: 01 April 2017 By: Andries van Zyl

Local traffic officers recently had residents up in arms by pulling them over, taking their driver’s licenses and demanding payment of outstanding traffic fines before they could leave the scene.

This is what happened on 15 March right next to the Makhado Municipality in Erasmus Street. More than one heated argument ensued between residents and local traffic law enforcers, and at one stage, the traffic officers threatened have a man arrested for interfering with their duties. The man instructed his daughter to drive away from the scene after she was pulled over and it was found that an outstanding warrant of arrest had been issued against her for failing to pay a traffic fine.

Another resident had to walk all the way to the bank to go and withdraw R2 300 for a string of unpaid traffic fines. “I don’t even have that vehicle anymore,” the motorist said. Although in a hurry, he could do little but wait for the traffic officer to count the money and write out a receipt. He admitted to committing the traffic offences, however.

More than one “offending” motorist called the Zoutpansberger to voice their dismay. Upon the newspaper’s arrival at the scene, they questioned the legality of confiscating drivers' licenses, pending the immediate payment of outstanding fines.

“We are not operating illegally,” said traffic officer Lorraine Kutama. She explained their action by stating that warrants of arrest had been issued against the people whose licenses they were withholding. “Yes, we took the licenses, because we enquire [if a driver has outstanding traffic fines] from the license. If we give you the license back and you drive away, where will we find you?” asked Kutama.

Kutama further explained that when a traffic fine was issued, three dates appeared on the ticket. The first date is the issue date, the second the pay date and the third is the court date. Should a motorist fail to pay the fine and come to court, he or she is given another 14 days before a warrant of arrest is issued. “They must pay first, otherwise they will not be able to drive away. It is a warrant of arrest and we will arrest you,” said Kutama.

To find out more about the legality of withholding a person’s driver’s license until they have paid outstanding traffic fines, the Zoutpansberger spoke to the chief prosecutor for the Thohoyandou area, Mr André Weideman.

Weideman said that Kutama was correct in stating that they were within their legal right to arrest people who wanted to drive away. He said, however, that he did not think that the law allowed for a traffic official to withhold someone’s’ driver’s license first since the license was private property. His interpretation of the law was that when a person with an outstanding warrant of arrest against them was pulled over, that person’s driver’s license should be handed back to him or her and they should be given the option to either pay the outstanding fine immediately, or to go to court if they wanted to challenge the issuing of the fine. “They cannot force you to pay on the spot,” said Weideman.

Having said this, however, Weideman warned motorists that it would be a very bad idea to merely drive away. “Remember, a warrant of arrest has already been issued by a magistrate and you can be arrested.” He added that a warrant of arrest should be taken very seriously. “By now, you have failed to pay your traffic fine or to appear in court and therefore you are in contempt of court,” said Weideman.

An important thing to remember when a person is pulled over, Weideman said, was that traffic officials must be able to supply the motorist with a printed copy of the warrant of arrest. This was indeed the case on 15 March. Motorist would be pulled over and the traffic control office would called to enquire whether there was an outstanding warrant of arrest against the person. If there was, the warrant of arrest was printed and supplied to the offending motorist. When the outstanding amount was paid, the municipality printed and supplied the offending motorist with a receipt of payment.

For many, the whole process was nothing more than a huge frustration and a waste of time. As far as could be determined, many were, however, more than happy just to pay the fine rather than be arrested. In this regard, Weideman had some advice for the public. “If you are issued a traffic fine, just pay it or make a representation to court why you don’t want to pay the ticket. Just get it done as soon as possible,” Weideman said.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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